How many French words are similar to English?

English speakers already recognise several thousand French words. Because roughly a third of English vocabulary came from French, thousands of words are identical or near-identical in spelling — cognates like nation, table, important, musique and université.

What are French cognates?

Cognates (mots apparentés or mots transparents) are words that look the same or almost the same in French and English and share the same meaning, such as information, possible, restaurant and réalité. Learning the patterns behind them unlocks vocabulary instantly.

Are French and English cognates pronounced the same?

No. The spelling is often identical but the pronunciation is not. 'Nation' is said roughly 'na-syon' in French, and the stress falls on the last syllable. You must adjust the sound, even when the word looks familiar.

What are French false friends (faux amis)?

False friends are words that look like English but mean something different. For example, 'librairie' means bookshop (not library), 'actuellement' means currently (not actually), and 'sensible' means sensitive (not sensible).

What is the fastest way to build French vocabulary?

Start with cognates. Learn the word-ending patterns (-tion, -able, -ique, -té, -iste) so you can convert English words into French on the spot, then adjust the pronunciation. It is the fastest way to reach a usable vocabulary as a beginner.

3,000 French Words You Already Know: The Cognates Trick

Here's the best-kept secret in French: if you speak English, you already know thousands of French words — you just don't realise it yet. About a third of English vocabulary came from French, so a huge number of words are spelled almost identically and mean the same thing. Learn the handful of patterns in my new video and this guide, and you can convert English words into French on the spot.

🎬 The cognate patterns that unlock thousands of French words instantly.

Why you already know so many words

These lookalike words are called cognates — in French, mots apparentés or mots transparents("transparent words"). They exist because of centuries of shared history between French and English. The practical upshot: instead of memorising thousands of words one by one, you learn a few endings, and each one unlocks hundreds of words at once.

The cognate patterns that unlock the most words

These are the highest-value patterns. In each case the English word is already French — or becomes French with a tiny change to the ending.

-tion → -tion (identical): nation, information, situation, attention, question, solution. All feminine: la nation.
-able / -ible → -able / -ible (identical): table, capable, possible, terrible, adorable, probable.
-ent / -ant → -ent / -ant: important, différent, excellent, restaurant, président, intelligent.
-ance / -ence → -ance / -ence: importance, distance, science, patience, différence, expérience.
-ic → -ique: music → musique, public → publique, romantic → romantique, classic → classique.
-ty → -té: university → université, liberty → liberté, reality → réalité, quality → qualité.
-ary → -aire: necessary → nécessaire, salary → salaire, vocabulary → vocabulaire, dictionary → dictionnaire.
-ist → -iste: artist → artiste, tourist → touriste, dentist → dentiste, journalist → journaliste.
-ism → -isme: tourism → tourisme, optimism → optimisme, capitalism → capitalisme.

Just those nine endings cover well over three thousand words. When you're stuck for a word, try the English one with a French ending — you'll be right far more often than you expect.

The catch: same spelling, different sound

There is one rule you must respect. A cognate is spelled like English but is never pronounced like English. Nation is said roughly "na-syon", not "nay-shun". Three habits fix almost everything:

Put the stress on the last syllable, lightly — French doesn't hit syllables hard like English.
Keep vowels pure and short — no gliding "ay" or "oh" diphthongs.
Most final consonants are silent (restaurant ends on the nasal "an", not a hard "t").

Watch out for false friends (faux amis)

A few words look identical but mean something different — these are faux amis, and they cause the funniest mistakes. Keep these five in mind:

librairie = bookshop, not library (that's bibliothèque).
actuellement = currently, not actually (that's en fait).
sensible = sensitive, not sensible (that's raisonnable).
la monnaie = change / coins, not money (that's l'argent).
assister à = to attend, not to assist (that's aider).

How to actually use this

Cognates are the fastest on-ramp to a usable French vocabulary, but they're a starting point, not the whole language. The winning routine: lean on cognates to say more from day one, drill the pronunciation so they sound French, and keep a short list of the false friends you personally trip over. If you want to practise saying them correctly with real feedback, I teach beginners one-to-one — you can book a free 30-minute trial lesson, or first learn the days of the week in French for another quick win.